


Tutor's Pet

by Flika



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Beta Wanted, Eventual Fluff, F/F, Light Supernatural Elements, Other, Supernatural Elements, Tutor AU, Tutor!Laura, Tutoring
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-18
Updated: 2015-12-13
Packaged: 2018-04-15 11:06:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4604370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flika/pseuds/Flika
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Laura needs to be a tutor to satisfy a TA application requirement. Carmilla is flunking her Gothic Literature class. Through the power of random tutor assignments, the two are forced to learn to get along.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. There Are No Lost Causes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which Laura is assigned to tutor the very difficult Carmilla.

“Why didn’t you tell me about this earlier? I could have gotten you a slot tutoring for Journalism 101,” Danny said, waving the bite of lettuce on her fork in emphasis.

“I just got a little behind in signing up for being a tutor, is all,” Laura sighed. Danny was a good friend, but sometimes she could be a little pushy.

“Laura, I’ve been through the TA process, both as a undergrad and grad student.  I know how the system works, and there’s probably barely anything left at this point.”

Laura was thankful for the interruption of LaFontaine slamming their lunch tray down onto the cafeteria table.  Danny paused her nagging, glancing disdainfully at LaFontaine’s tray, which was piled high with pizza, french fries, and several slices of mystery pie.

“What’d I miss?” LaFontaine asked, chewing with their mouth open through a bite of pie. Danny sighed and rolled her eyes pointedly at their gross table manners, but LaFontaine either didn’t notice or chose to ignore her.

“I still haven’t signed up to tutor,” Laura explained.

“Dude, I signed up weeks ago to be a marine bio tutor. They’re going to pair you with some problem student who’s only getting tutored because their teacher recommended them for extra help,” LaFontaine continued to talk with food in their mouth, eliciting a sharp “ahem” from Danny. “What?”

“Can you _not_ chew with your mouth open?” Danny complained.

LaFontaine made a face but closed their mouth to appease Danny.

“Tutoring is literally the most important prerequisite for being selected as a TA. If you’re serious about TAing Journalism next year, you really shouldn’t have been so lackadaisical about this,” Danny added.

“I know, I know,” Laura groaned. “I’m literally going to sign up today. You know what, I’ll sign up right now.”

Laura pulled out her laptop and navigated to the Silas tutor registration portal. Squinting at the list of classes available, she cleared her throat and read off the options, “Primordial Alchemy, Harpy Culture and History—I’m not even going to ask—and Gothic Literature.” 

“Go with gothic literature, at least it’s a humanity. You definitely _don’t_ want to mess with the Alchemy department,” LaFontaine suggested.

“I haven’t even read half the short stories on the syllabus,” Laura grumbled.

“Told you shouldn’t have left it this late,” Danny mumbled.

* * *

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ 

From: Student Affairs <studentaffairs@silasu.edu>

To: Laura Hollis <laura.hollis@silasu.edu>, Carmilla Karnstein <heycarmilla@gmail.com>

Subject: Tutor Assignment

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

Dear Student(s),

You are receiving this email because:

A) You have elected or been required to tutor. The other recipient is your tutoring subject.

B) You have elected or been required to be tutored. The other recipient is your tutor.

C) This email was sent in error due to a clerical mistake or demonic possession of the aethernet.

Sincerely,

Silas Student Affairs

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

From: Laura Hollis <laura.hollis@silasu.edu>

To: Carmilla Karnstein <heycarmilla@gmail.com>

Subject: Hello!

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

Hi Carmilla! 

So it looks like I’ll be tutoring you for Gothic Literature. I haven’t actually taken the course, but I’ve read through the syllabus and don’t think we should have any problems.

Could we meet next Tuesday in the library? Let me know what time works for you!

-Laura :)

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ 

* * *

 “Yo, frosh, you alright?” LaFontaine asked, peeking into Laura’s dorm room. The evidence of Laura’s cram session was spread across her desk— several empty hot chocolate mugs, a half-eaten carton of cookies, and a pile of gothic novels that was stacked taller than her.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.  Just trying to read a semester’s worth of books in 3 days,” Laura groaned, looking up from a wrinkled copy of _Dracula_. “And when are you going to stop calling me frosh? I haven’t been a freshmen for more than a year.”

“Frosh is an attitude, not a grade,” LaFontaine teased with a grin, picking up a book from Laura’s stack. “Hey, _Frankenstein_ , nice.”

“Yeah, I guess.  Kind of macabre, though.”

“I don’t know, I think it’s kind of inspirational,” LaFontaine admitted, eliciting a smirk from Laura. “And if you don’t like macabre stories, gothic literature is probably not for you.”

“Still better than ‘Harpies: A Misunderstood History’ or whatever that class was called.”

“Fair enough,” LaFontaine laughed. “Anyways, if you decide to call it a night any time soon, Perr and me are marathoning the Ghostbusters franchise. You’re welcome to join,” LaFontaine offered.

“Thanks, but I’m still only half way through _Dracula_ ,” Laura replied, nodding to the mountain of books she still had to read.

“Ok, see you later. Have fun with your vampires!” LaFontaine called out before leaving Laura alone to study. 

* * *

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

From: Carmilla Karnstein <heycarmilla@gmail.com>

To: Laura Hollis <laura.hollis@silasu.edu>

Subject: Re: Hell!

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

Tuesday’s fine.

-C

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

From: Laura Hollis <laura.hollis@silasu.edu>

To: Carmilla Karnstein <heycarmilla@gmail.com>

Subject: Re: Hell!

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

Hi Again!

How about 2pm, does that work for you? Also, did you change the subject of the email?

-Laura

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

From: Carmilla Karnstein <heycarmilla@gmail.com>

To: Laura Hollis <laura.hollis@silasu.edu>

Subject: Re: Frilly Hell!

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

No idea what you’re talking about.

-C

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

From: Laura Hollis <laura.hollis@silasu.edu>

To: Carmilla Karnstein <heycarmilla@gmail.com>

Subject: Re: Frilly Hell!

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

Hello!

I’m not sure why you keep changing the subject line, but is 2pm okay?

-Laura

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

From: Laura Hollis <laura.hollis@silasu.edu>

To: Carmilla Karnstein <heycarmilla@gmail.com>

Subject: Re: Frilly Hell!

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

Hi!

Maybe you didn’t see my last email? Should I just assume 2pm tomorrow works then?

-Laura

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ 

* * *

 Laura had everything she need for tutoring—sharpened pencils, a binder full of neatly hole-punched printouts of the short stories on the syllabus, copies of all the necessary novels.  All she needed was a person to tutor—it was 2:30 pm, and Carmilla still hadn’t shown up.  Laura sent a third unreplied email to her truant tutoring subject, reminding her of the time they were supposed to meet.

Finally, at quarter to three, a broody, dark-haired girl appeared and slumped into the chair opposite Laura.

“Hey,” Carmilla greeted, her voice raspy and hoarse.

“Hi! You’re Carmilla, right?”

Carmilla grunted in response, pushing her bangs out of her eyes.

“So I guess we should just get started then? We have a lot of material to cover, since you have a midterm coming up in only a few weeks,” Laura slapped on a wide grin, hoping to steamroll through Carmilla’s apathetic attitude with positivity.

“You’re awfully chipper early in the morning,” Carmilla groaned, pressing her hand to her temple.

Laura’s smile strained a bit, “It’s nearly 3 pm....”

“Well when you’ve had the kind of night I’ve had, it all sort of blends together,” Carmilla said with a raised eyebrow.

Laura really didn’t want to imagine what “kind of night” Carmilla had had. Her smudged black eyeliner did nothing to conceal her puffy eyes—she was clearly rocking a pretty intense hangover. Her clothes—a grunge flannel shirt over ripped, black skinny jeans—were clearly slept in, and judging by her suggestive comment she had not spent the night alone.

“But yeah, on the topic of time, I guess we didn’t solidify our meeting time enough beforehand. Next time we’ll have to try harder on that,” Laura stated, trying to be polite about the fact that Carmilla had shown up horrendously late. “Could I get your phone number? It’ll be easier to coordinate that way.”

“Asking for my number this early? Very forward, creampuff. I like that in a woman,” Carmilla taunted, leaning forward.

Laura bristled at the comment. _Of course_ she had found some way to twist her request into something inappropriate. “Can you please just write it down for me?” Laura sighed, offering Carmilla a pen.

Instead of accepting the pen, Carmilla reached into her pocket and pulled at a crumpled slip of paper.  Tossing it at Laura, she chuckled when Laura missed the throw and had to bend down to pick it up from the floor.

Laura smoothed out the scrap of paper, and was about to pocket it when she suddenly paused, “Who’s Elsie? And why the hell does this say ‘call for a good time’? Who _says_ that?” 

“Sorry, cutie. Wrong pocket.” Carmilla pulled out a small mound of paper scraps from her other pocket and dropped them on the table in front of Laura because of course, _of course_ , she keeps slips of paper with her number on them on her at all times. “Feel free to spread those around.” 

Laura’s huffed, exasperated. Determined to retain professionalism, she tried to pivot their conversation back on track. “Look, can we just focus on the tutoring? Like I said before, we have a lot to cover and I need to figure out how much you know.”

“Oh, I’d _love_ to show you how much I know.”

Choosing to ignore the comment, Laura pressed on, “Let’s just start at the top of the syllabus. _Frankenstein_. What did you guys talk about in class for that book?”

Carmilla sighed, leaning back and pushing the front legs of her chair off the ground instead of answering.

“Hello? Anything?” Laura probed.

Carmilla avoided eye contact eye contact, probably just to piss Laura off more. 

“Did you even go to class? If you want me to help you, you have to actually try to learn.”

Carmilla suddenly sat up, “I don’t _have_ to do anything for you. And I don’t want or need you to help me—I’m here for the same reason you are: I’m required to be.”

Laura sighed, mentally repeating the mantra, “ _There are no lost causes. There are no lost causes_.” After taking a deep breath to compose herself, she tried again, “Look—just be honest with me.  Did you even read the book?”

“Do you honestly think I don’t have better things to do?”

Laura took another deep breath, “Look, this doesn’t have to be like pulling nails.  It’s a good book.  Learning can be fun.”

Laura sighed and put her hand in the hands when Carmilla chose not to respond or even make eye contact. Laura had thought she could tutor anyone, but she was being tested by Carmilla’s total apathy and lack of basic politeness. Finally, Carmilla broke the silence. 

“How dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge, and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world,” Carmilla opined, staring at her nails. 

“Okay—what the hell—but okay.” Laura paused, realizing Carmilla’s little speech sounded kind of familiar. “Wait a minute—what the _hell_ —Is that a _quote_ from the book?”

Carmilla looked up, trying to suppress a smile, “I haven’t the faintest clue what you’re talking about.”

Laura flipped frantically through the post-it marked sections of her copy of _Frankenstein_ until she reached the passage she was looking for. “It _is_. ‘Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge,” Laura read.

Laura leaned across the table and triumphantly held the passage up to show Carmilla, holding it inches from her face so Carmilla couldn’t possibly feign ignorance. 

 “Ok, maybe I read the book,” Carmilla, rolling her eyes in acknowledgement at being ‘caught’.

Laura asked, “Did you ‘maybe’ go to class, also?”

Carmilla laughed, “Maybe.”

Laura delighted clapped her hands, gleeful that she had definitively proven Carmilla did try.  Carmilla just chuckled. 

“Let’s start from the beginning again, then. What did you guys talk about in class?” Laura asked.

“Eh, just some superficial bullshit about ‘who’s the real monster’, mostly.” Carmilla was still making only sporadic eye contact, but at least she was moderately responsive now.

“Oh yeah, I was really surprised when I read _Frankenstein_ , because I never realized that Frankenstein is the doctor, not the monster.”

“First of all, how did you never realize that?” When Laura started to try to explain herself, Carmilla interrupted, “—You know what, I don’t care. But ‘who’s the real monster’ is just moralist bullshit about the ethics of Dr. Frankenstein creating the monster.”

“Bullshit? Morals and ethics are important,” Laura stated, furrowing her brow. 

Carmilla scoffed, “Ethics are a ridiculous game played by children who think they can impose order on an arbitrary universe.” 

“Okay, agree to disagree.  But that’s a valid opinion, let’s talk about how your view of morality affected how you sympathized with the different characters of the novel.”

* * *

Several hours later, Laura and Carmilla were unceremoniously kicked out of the library with ominous warnings of, “You _really_ don’t want to stay here after dark” from the library aids. It had been a frustrating, but productive, couple of hours.  While frequently derailed by Carmilla’s sarcastic quips and flirtatious innuendos, they had covered the first quarter of the syllabus and Laura was optimistic about their future progress.

Standing outside of the library as the sun began to set, Laura felt a bit awkward, not sure what to say now that tutoring topics were off the table. She should say something, right?

Carmilla, for her part, did not feel the need to make small talk, and without so much of a wave started to walk away.

“Hey! Where are you going?” Laura asked, calling out after her. 

Carmilla turned back, “Uh, walking back to my dorm? Unless you care to join me, I should really get going.” 

Laura blushed at the comment, “Oh, okay.  Uh, I guess I’ll text you or something to set up our next study session.”

“I await your correspondence with baited breath,” Carmilla called out over her shoulder.

Laura smiled and shook her head as she walked back to her own dorm. Carmilla was irritating, inappropriately flirtatious, and apathetic. But, she was definitely one of the most interesting people Laura had spent time with.  Laura hated to admit it, but she was almost looking forward to their next meeting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of this 5 part work! I'm open to constructive criticism and suggestions, so leave a comment. My tumblr is jalapoppyseed.tumblr.com, I'll post updates on this work there. Also, I'm looking for a beta reader if anyone's interested.


	2. Ok, Maybe Not Quite Friendly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which tutoring goes about as well as predicated.

**Unknown Number <202-555-0122> (8:01pm): **Hi Carm!

 **Unknown Number <202-555-0122> (8:06pm): **Sorry, idk if it’s ok to call you that.

 **Carmilla (8:13pm):** Hey. Is this Cally? That was quick.

 **Unknown Number <202-555-0122> (8:14pm): **Um, no. This is Laura.

 **Unknown Number <202-555-0122> (8:14pm): **Who’s Cally??

* * *

On her way back to her dorm, Laura ran into Danny and Perry arguing about the proper way to clean blood out of fabric in the hallway.

“No, no, no. You have to soak it in club soda first, that will loosen the stain,” Perry insisted, gesturing widely with her hands, one of which was holding Danny’s bloody varsity jacket. “And how does this keep happening?”

“You know, archery practice sometimes gets a little out of hand. No one was maimed, I promise,” Danny explained. “Oh, hey Laura!”

“How was tutoring?” Perry added, finally relinquishing her grip on Danny’s jacket.

“Surprisingly, not that bad,” Laura answered.

Danny snorted, “Really? Carmilla was in my psych elective last year. Didn’t really think you too would click.”

Perry rung her hands, searching for a polite phrasing, “She _is_ a little... intense.”

“Hey, she’s not all bad...she’s actually pretty friendly once you get to know her,” Laura wasn’t sure why she felt compelled to defend Carmilla. ‘Friendly’ probably wasn’t the best word—vaguely tolerable was a better fit. “Ok, maybe not quite friendly.  But I get the sense she just needs—”

“Basic human politeness? Empathy? Morals?” Danny suggested.

“—Someone who takes the time to understand her.”

Danny shook her head, “Only you could see the good in the poster child for psychopathy.”

Laura sighed, “Whatever, it is what it is. I’m just about to head to my dorm room now. Anyone care to join me in binge watching Agent Carter and eating way too much junk food?”

“Sorry, Thursday night is date night. LaFontaine says they have a big surprise planned,” Perry apologized.

“Oh, that’s nice. What about you, Danny?” Laura asked.

“I hate surprises,” Perry muttered to herself.

“Sorry, I promised Kirsch I’d hang out,” Danny replied, not making eye contact. Laura tried to remember when Danny and Kirsch had gotten so close. She wondered if asking about relationships would ever stop being weird with Danny.

“Oh, okay.  You’ve been... spending a lot of time together recently.”

“Yeah, well, he’s gotten a lot tolerable after he took some gender studies courses. Well, I should be going now...See you, Hollis,” Danny explained before heading on her way.

“Yeah, me too. See you later Laura!” Perry added.

Laura sighed.  It kind of hurt that her friends were blowing her off for their relationships.  Well, relationship-ish, for Danny. It was totally understandable that they were caught up in their own lives, but... it still hurt.  Maybe she just needed to go on a few dates herself.

Whatever, Laura could worry about that later. Netflix and a box of chocolate chip cookies awaited her!

* * *

**Uptight Tutor Chick (10:35am):** Hey! Could we meet up tmrw for tutoring? 4pm?

**Carmilla (1:15pm):** Yeah, that works.

 **Uptight Tutor Chick (1:20pm):** Could we study in one of our dorm rooms?

 **Uptight Tutor Chick (1:21pm):** It was kind of hard to concentrate in the library, what w/ the vague shrieking coming from the books in the mythology section.

 **Carmilla (1:24pm):** Sure, cutie. Your place or mine?

 **Uptight Tutor Chick (1:26pm):** >:(

 **Uptight Tutor Chick (1:34pm):** But your place, at least you can’t be late that way.

* * *

Laura stood outside the room listed for Carmilla in the student directory. Could this really be room 307? The room number was partially covered by a glitter-glue outlined welcome sign on the door that did not exactly seem like Carmilla’s style. But maybe it was her roommate’s–or maybe it was supposed to be sarcastic? Some sort of artistic statement?

Laura knocked hesitantly, but nobody came to the door. Laura started to peal back the confusing sign to check the number when suddenly the door swung open to reveal a studious-looking, petite brunette.

“Oh, hi!” Laura greeted with an awkward half-wave. “Uh, you’re Mary, right? You were in my journalism class a while back?”

“Yeah, so?” Mary Ringwold challenged, raising her eyebrows.

“Um, I’m looking for Carmilla. Is she here? I just need to find her for, uh...” Laura trailed off, looking over her shoulder. This probably wasn’t even the right room.

“What, is she lining you up back to back now?” Mary smirked. “You’re the second girl today alone, that’s reaching levels of sex addiction.”

“What–no, no, no, I’m just helping her study,” Laura hurriedly corrected. She bristled at the insinuation–how could Mary think that? Carmilla wasn’t even her type.

Mary rolled her eyes, “Well, she’s across the hall, you have the wrong room.”

“Ok, thanks!” Laura said, happy to exit the awkward conversation.

“Have fun ‘studying!’” Mary called out after her, before shutting her door.

Laura walked across the hall, finally finding the correct door. Heading Mary’s warning about Carmilla’s recent ‘guest,’ she paused before wrapping loudly on the doorframe.

“One second!” Carmilla called out from behind the door, her voice strained and raspy.

Laura crossed her fingers, praying, _“Please don’t be naked. Please don’t be naked.”_ Fidgeting with impatience, Laura tapped her foot as Carmilla took her sweet time getting to door.

Finally, the door swung open to reveal Carmilla. The first thing Laura noticed was that Carmilla’s normally well-coifed hair was mussed and messy. She would have been charitable enough to attribute that to bedhead, had it not been for the fact that the second thing Laura noticed was that the only thing Carmilla was wearing was an oversized button down shirt that hit at mid-thigh.  And it was missing several buttons, that if were not _key_ buttons were definitely there for a reason.

Laura’s eyes practically bugged out of her head as she struggled to maintain an excessive amount of eye contact, “Uh, hi.”

“Make yourself at home,” Carmilla grumbled, sashaying back into her room with an unnecessary sway to her hips and flopping down on her bed.

Laura followed in behind her, unsure whether it was more awkward to close the door behind her or purposefully leave it propped open. She paused, before propping it open with the stool next to the door, eliciting an eye roll from Carmilla.

“Aren’t you going to put on some pants or something?” Laura asked, sitting down on the bare mattress of the bed across from Carmilla’s. When Carmilla ignored the comment, she nervously tried to make small talk in an attempt to defuse the awkwardness. “Um, so I guess you don’t have a roommate, right?”

Carmilla pushed her messy bangs out of her eyes, “Yeah, I had one but she switched rooms.”

Laura nodded, “I get that, my roommate transferred schools after, like, the first week of classes.” Laura poked at the pile of clothes on the floor with her foot, “The whole no-roommate thing is probably for the best, you’re not exactly the neatest.”

“So I’ve been told,” Carmilla smirked.

Small talk exhausted, the two sat in a silence that Carmilla relished in sharp contrast to Laura’s uncomfortable clearing of her throat. Laura didn’t quite know where to look: staring at the floor seemed rude, making silent eye contact had exceeded awkward and moved into downright uncomfortable, and looking normally at Carmilla while she was pantsless was definitely not an option.

Finally, Laura broke the silence. “Can you _please_ just put on some pants?” Laura pleaded.

Carmilla smirked, “It makes you _that_ uncomfortable? It’s not like I’m naked, cutie.”

Laura only glared in response. She struggled to recall anyone who was quite as infuriatingly good at getting under her skin as Carmilla. “Look, can you just do it? We need to start studying, and it’s kind of distracting.”

Carmilla smirked even harder, if that was even possible, “Oh I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you were so _distracted_ by me.”

“Ugh! Stop twisting my words like that!” Laura complained. Reaching her wits end, Laura stood up and began to pace. “Why can’t you just accept my help and let this be easy!”

Carmilla slumped back on her bed, crossing her arms behind her head. “Oh, but my way is _so_ much more fun. That bunched up little face you make when you're angry is _hilarious_ , buttercup.”

“Ugh, I can’t deal with you!” Laura groaned.

Carmilla raised her eyebrow, “Then leave. Nobody’s stopping you.”

Carmilla stood up and stepped forward to stare down Laura. The two glared at each other in silence, both refusing to look away. Laura couldn’t help but notice how close Carmilla was to her, and she _still_ wasn’t wearing any pants, and _whoa_ was her stare intense. Under different circumstances...

Laura broke eye contact first, turning away, “Look, I need this, okay? I know you can probably just ask your mother to change the grade, but it’s not like that for me. If I can’t help you raise your grade, I can’t be a TA next year.”

Carmilla sat back down, “Oh, so you admit you need _me_ to help you now?”

 “Well, yeah,” Laura admitted. “Wait, why are you smirking at me like that?”

Carmilla grinned, “Well, you needing me is certainly a more pleasant position for me to be in. You know, if you ask nicely maybe I’ll even been cooperative.”

Laura sighed, sitting down again, “Yes, I need your help. Can you please just work with me?”

Carmilla shifted, leaning forward, “ _Maybe_ I could be persuaded to behave, if given the right... encouragement.”

Laura laughed, “How about I agree to buy you Chinese takeout, _if_ you promise to study really hard in the meantime.”

Carmilla stared intently at Laura, biting her lip, “Not really what I meant, cutie.”

Laura jumped up, oblivious, “You’d rather have pizza, then? I’ll order it now, you get cracking on studying.” Laura reached into the pile of clothes on the floor and tossed a pair of dark jeans at Carmilla, “And put on some damn pants.”

Carmilla sighed, shaking her head in frustration. How clueless could one girl be?

* * *

Somewhere between Poe and Brontë, Laura and Carmilla got into sync.  They flew through “The Raven”,  _Wuthering_ _Heights_ , and  _The_ _Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde_ , and by the time the pizza finally came more than an hour late they were more than halfway through the required reading.

“You have a good handle on the big ideas in these books, but unfortunately your professor puts a lot of emphasis on minor details. So I can make you up some flashcards and we can do a cram study session for memorization the night before your midterm,” Laura suggested through a bite of veggie pizza.

Carmilla nodded, picking at the vegetables on her own slice of pizza.

“Come on, just take a bite. A little mushroom and garlic aren’t going to kill you,” Laura teased.

Carmilla looked up, panicked, until she saw Laura was holding back a laugh. “Asshole,” Carmilla muttered, hitting Laura with a pillow. “You know, it really seems like I should be the one who gets to pick the toppings on my bribery pizza. Which was so late you didn’t even have to pay for it.”

Laura laughed, “I left the garlic off, don’t worry. And the pizza is an _encouragement_ not a bribe.”

Carmilla rolled her eyes, but took a bite of the pizza. “Holy shit,” she mumbled through a bite of cheese. “This is amazing. I should behave more often.”

Laura grinned, “Told you so.”

Carmilla grinned back, then frowned, “Hey, Laura?”

“Yeah?” Laura asked, eyes wide.

“Just—what you said earlier, about my mom fixing my grade—it’s not like that.”

“Oh, I didn’t mean to imply that you’re a cheater”, Laura stammered.

“No, it’s just,” Carmilla looked down at the ground. “It’s _really_ not like that. Favors in my family come at a price.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

The two paused, Laura looking hesitantly up at Carmilla. “Thanks for telling me that.”

Carmilla nodded, quick to brush off the moment and move on, “Okay, so what’s next?”

“Well, I think we can save it for next time, but the next item on the list is _Carmilla_ , funnily enough. Is that your namesake or something?”

Carmilla laughed, ducking her head, “Something like that.” When she looked up, Laura was staring at her, “What?”

 “You’ve got a little...” Laura leaned forward to wipe the splotch of pizza sauce off the side of Carmilla’s mouth.

“Better?” Carmilla asked, her voice hesitant.

“Better,” Laura agreed.

The two paused, just looking at each other. Laura’s couldn’t look away—Carmilla’s lips had been so soft when she brushed them. If she just leaned forward a few feet—

“Ok!” Laura exclaimed, too loudly, causing Carmilla to shrink back. “So I guess we can call it a night, then. I’ll text you our next meeting time,” Laura jumped up, rushing towards the door.

“Laura, uh, wait,” Carmilla called out after her.

“Yeah?” Laura asked breathily, pausing with one hand on the doorknob.

Laura paused for a moment when Carmilla didn’t respond, not sure if she should stay or go.

“Goodnight, Carm.”

Once she had shut the door behind her, Laura leaned against the doorframe. What the hell was that?


	3. Well, Color Me surprised

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which an unexpected meeting leads to... the unexpected.

“I still can’t believe you two are wearing matching sweaters,” Laura groaned. “This is a new low of disgustingly cutesy for you too.”

Perry and LaFontaine were almost too perfect for each other, sometimes. Laura wasn’t quite sure how they had convinced her to third-wheel and go ice-skating with them. Maybe because she had been spending a disgusting amount of time indoors studying for finals lately.

“Hey! I knitted these myself,” Perry protested, looking down at her sweater. It was horrendously festive, complete with a red-pompom-nosed felt reindeer and bells that jingled when she walked. “LaFontaine likes them.”

LaFontaine made only a vaguely affirmative grunt in response, tugging at the itchy, wool turtleneck of their sweater.

“See? They think they’re cozy,” Perry insisted.

Laura rolled her eyes, “Or they have too much vested interest in not offending their girlfriend.”

Perry response was cut off by LaFontaine pointing at a figure in the distance, “Hey, is that...Carmilla?”

Laura looked where LaFontaine was pointing, “Oh yeah. I wonder what she’s doing here. Ice skating doesn’t really seem like her thing.”

“You should go say hi, ask her to join us!” Perry suggested, nudging Laura.

“I don’t know...” Laura hesitated. She wasn’t sure they were close enough to just go up and invite her to hang out.

“You’re never going to get a girlfriend if you can’t even talk to girls, Laura,” LaFontaine teased, ruffling Laura’s hair.

“What?” Laura blushed. “I don’t even like her that way.”

LaFontaine and Perry shared a knowing look.

“I don’t!” Laura insisted. “Why would you even think that?”

“You’ve just been talking about her _a lot_ lately, but if you say so...” Perry politely explained.

“That’s just because we’ve been spending a lot of time together lately for tutoring,” Laura grumbled, annoyed. Why did everyone seem to think she had a thing for Carmilla?

“Prove it, go talk to her then,” LaFontaine challenged.

“Fine, I will,” Laura acquiesced. “Just for the record though, you guys are the worst, and this is peer pressure.”

After Laura had walked away, LaFontaine looked over to Perry. “Yeah, they’re totally going to bang.”

* * *

“Hey, Carmilla,” Laura greeted.

Carmilla looked up from her phone and quickly tucked something behind her back. “Oh, hey, Laura. What brings you here?”

“I’m just hanging out with LaFontaine and Perry–you’re welcome to join us if you want,” Laura explained. “Hey, what are you hiding behind your back?”

“Nothing,” Carmilla answered too quickly.

“Is that so?” Laura questioned. She lunged forward quickly to grab at whatever Carmilla was holding behind her.

“Hey!” Carmilla protested, trying to hold her possession out of reach.

Jumping up and snatching the mystery object from Carmilla gleefully, Laura inspected its contents, “Wait–flowers? Are you on a date?”

“Something like that,” Carmilla muttered, stuffing her hands into the pockets.

Laura cocked her head curiously, “Wait, did you get stood up?”

“What? No way,” Carmilla shook her head.

“Okay, whatever you say,” Laura teased. “But I won’t rub it in.”

Carmilla paused, rubbing at the back of her head, before asking, “Well...is that offer to hang with you and the ginger twins still open?”

“Of course,” Laura promised, linking arms with Carmilla. “Let’s go get our skates.”

* * *

 **Carmilla (2:31pm):** Wait, have you left the house yet?

 **Elsie (2:32pm):** Not yet, it’ll be a bit.

 **Carmilla (2:32pm):** I’m really sorry, but I have to cancel. Something came up.

 **Carmilla (2:33pm):** I’ll have to find someway to make it up to you another time.

 **Elsie (2:35pm):** Whatever, I’m 2 swag for u anyway.

 **Carmilla (2:38pm):**?

* * *

Laura tottered over to where Carmilla was sitting, her steps impeded by rented ice skates she was wearing. “Hey! LaFontaine and Perry are still in the line to rent skates. Have you gotten yours, yet?”

Carmilla shook her head, tapping the pair of white skates next to her, “I brought my own.”

Laura looked at her, shocked, “ _You_ , ice skate?”

Carmilla shrugged, slipping on her skates. “There’s not that much to do in Styria in the winter.”

Laura grinned, “Well, color me surprised. You’ll have to go slow though, this is my first time skating.”

LaFontaine and Perry walked over, interrupting their conversation. “You two ready?” LaFontaine asked.

Laura nodded, jumping up, “Let’s go!”

* * *

“You said you wouldn’t laugh!” Laura complained, pouting cutely as she struggled to get up from the floor of the ice-skating rink.

“I’m not laughing!” Carmilla insisted, covering her mouth. “Here, let me give you a hand.”

Laura sighed but accepted Carmilla’s hand, allowing herself to be pulled back up.

“Here, just hold onto me and I’ll support you,” Carmilla suggested, taking Laura’s hand.

Laura leaned against Carmilla, clutching tightly onto her for support, “Just don’t go too fast.”

“I won’t,” Carmilla promised, sticking out her other arm to keep them balanced.

“Ugh, I still can’t believe LaFontaine and Perry just ditched us to skate faster,” Laura complained as she struggled to move forward on the ice in short, choppy motions.

“Yeah, I’m sure that was there only reason for leaving us alone,” Carmilla rolled her eyes. Perry and LaFontaine had been a little too gleefully scheming in their suggestions that maybe it was ‘for the best’ if their group broke up to skate in pairs. And after Laura insisted they should all stick together, they had flashed a knowing look at each other before bolting off to skate ahead of Laura and Carmilla.

“Ok, so just move your feet in fluid motions, try not to lift them off the ground so much,” Carmilla suggested, pointing to her feet. “Like this.”

“Uh, huh,” Laura nodded, trying to imitate Carmilla’s motions as they made their way around the rink. “Hey, I think I’m getting it!” Laura stated.

“Oh look, there are LaFontaine and Perry,” Carmilla pointed to the pair skating in the distance.

Laura let go of Carmilla’s hand to cup both hands around her mouth, “You guys are assholes!”

LaFontaine and Perry turned around to see who was yelling at them, before laughing and quickly skating further away.

Laura sighed, before excitedly saying, “Hey, I’m skating on my own.”

“You are!” Carmilla laughed.

Laura stuck out both of her arms for balance. She was glad to be finally getting the hang of skating, but she couldn’t help but miss the excuse to hold Carmilla’s hand. It had been surprisingly warm–not at all like she had expected.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she slipped on a rough patch of ice and almost fell. “Never mind!” she shouted, grabbing onto Carmilla’s arm instinctively.

“Whoa, there,” Carmilla laughed, looping her arm around Laura’s waist and pulling Laura against her to keep them both upright.

“Thanks,” Laura smiled, looking up at Carmilla and leaning into her.

Carmilla looked back at Laura, the beginning of a smile on her lips. While she wasn’t paying attention, Laura slipped again. Unable to stabilize herself in time, Carmilla came crushing down with Laura.

“Ow,” Laura groaned, rubbing her back. “Well, that’s going to leave a bruise.”

* * *

 **Carmilla (8:24pm):** Did icing your back help?

 **Cute Tutor Chick (8:32pm):** Ugh, no. I’m pretty sure my butt is permanently bruised now.

 **Cute Tutor Chick (8:33pm):** I actually had a lot of fun though. We should go again sometime.

 **Carmilla (8:36pm):** I’d like that :)

 **Cute Tutor Chick (8:39pm):** I can’t believe the great Carmilla Karnstein uses emoticons.

 **Carmilla (8:43pm):** ;) ;) ;)

 **Cute Tutor Chick (8:45pm):** Ugh, that’s more like it.

 **Cute Tutor Chick (8:47pm):** See you for tutoring tmrw :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the huge gap between updates! Also this is so fluffy I'm so sorry.


End file.
